Microsoft Reportedly Mulls Sale of Avenue A Unit

Microsoft is in talks to sell its Avenue A/Razorfish online advertising business to WPP Group (WPPGY), according to Advertising Age. Microsoft (MSFT) acquired Avenue A as part of its $5.9 billion purchase of aQuantive in 2007.

Ad Age says that the talks would involve Microsoft unloading the agency in exchange for a WPP package that includes the Open AdStream publisher ad-serving tool from its 24/7 unit plus cash. The story estimated the current value of Avenue A at 8-to-10 times EBITDA, or about $800 million.

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